Hi. Could you tell a bit more about the seal please.......I guess something happened on the ride last week, but those of us not there don't know much about it. Maybe Gunnerbuck could talk about it as he seems familiar with the problem. Those of us with DR650's would like to hear more about it....I'll look at the reference to the 2 Kiwis too. Thanks, and good luck with the return trip!

This breakdown has pretty much eaten up his adventure time, I'll post a couple of riding pictures once Jessie gets things sorted and can get back onto his RR timeline..

The problem with the counter seal popping out on the DR 650 seems random, but once it does the problem becomes chronic as the replacement seal will no longer stay in the case... Another problem comes into to play when the seal pops, and that is a rapid loss of your engine oil which could spell the end of your engine... In Jessies case four of us were riding on muddy roads toward Clinton when he pulled up and complained about rear brake fade... When we looked at the back the whole rear end was covered in oil and right away it was easy to figure out what happened... Upon pulling the sprocket to check underneath we could see the seal hanging out on one edge, problem is that it went back in way too easily... The other problem is the engine pumped out over half it's oil in less than 20 minutes so we scrounged enough from Fastlane to get to Clinton...
First look at the seal

We made it in to Clinton and being a small place we just ended up buying some bodge repair stuff if it happened again, which it did, 20 minutes out of town... This time the area around the seal got fully cleaned so the seal could be bonded back in..

This seemed to be more of a permanent fix but as the seal issue was starting to slip from our minds it popped again about 3 hrs later in the hills above Lillooet...

Jessie popped the seal back in again and by the time we made Lillooet it was leaking again on a Saturday night, no parts... Sunday morning we made arrangements for Lordco to bring in a seal and we had to leave Jessie behind as the rest of us had to return home to our jobs...

6 days after we left Jessie his replacement seal popped again in Nanaimo and it was too shagged for the retainer to do any good...

So even if your seal is still good buying and installing a retainer would be a good measure to stop a potential catastrophic event from happening..
Simple to install, 2 bolts

Is it sorted now? I read the Kiwi's seal problem as well. They had to come all the way from NZ for it to fail, and you from Manitoba, and both let you down in BC. I hadn't heard about this before though, and really appreciate the information from you and Gunnerbuck. I hope you're back on the road, or get back very soon.

Is it sorted now? I read the Kiwi's seal problem as well. They had to come all the way from NZ for it to fail, and you from Manitoba, and both let you down in BC. I hadn't heard about this before though, and really appreciate the information from you and Gunnerbuck. I hope you're back on the road, or get back very soon.

Futher on they had more problems, wasn't just the seals turned out into complete transmission rebuilds and new cases. Under warranty in Kalispell Montana. I know was with them when they picked up the bikes and saw the invoices.Probably would have been cheaper for Suzuki to put complete engines in them bikes instead considering that Andi's bike was still making transmission noises as soon as he picked it up and had to be rebuilt again later.

I am looking for a DR, when and if I find one I'll ask Andi for his toughts he has another one down in NZ and certainly expertise with their possible problems.

Jessie,
Sorry to hear about your grief..
I am thinking the output shaft is no longer concentric with the hole in the case..
If it was concentric then all you would have to do is replace the seal and it would stay in place without the seal retainer..

I'm not sure about that, there's no bearing play, and the oil pressure alone would push it out by revving the engine in neutral. We modded an xr650 seal to fit and used hondabond along with the retainer. I think I'll be ok from here on.

I'm not sure about that, there's no bearing play, and the oil pressure alone would push it out by revving the engine in neutral. We modded an xr650 seal to fit and used hondabond along with the retainer. I think I'll be ok from here on.

Cool, lets hope you can report more on riding than repairing from now on... How many days do you have left before you have to head east?

Alright, here's an update on the ride with some info about the situation.

On thursday i left lillooet after installing the new seal from suzuki, which arrived the day before. Unknown to me at the time, i had pushed it in too deep, but smothered it in jb weld. The repair got me to vancouver where i picked up the retainer from suzuki and installed it in the parking lot.

something didn't seem right, the retainer laid flush with the hole, but the seal was recessed 1/8th inch. what good was that?

Stopped at superstore for a coconut:

Anyway, i got to my cousin's house and hit the hay for that day. On friday i boarded the ferry to nanaimo with the intent of doing some riding. Got on board after shelling out 40 bucks to find:

Damn it. Paid the toll to get out and ride only to break down again.

Went to lordco when we docked and started digging into the bike. The seal was in too far and oil was leaking from all around the outside. First i tried to remove it by revving the engine and using the oil pressure to pop it out, that almost worked, it would push half way out but not enough to grab it or pry it. I went and got a pick and hooked the first lip of the dual lip seal and pulled it out. Ok, things were looking good. I cleaned up the oil and smeared some gasket maker around and popped the seal back in, not too far this time. Unfortunately when i used the pick, i damaged the inside seal as well, so the oil was leaking from the shaft now. I had just destroyed the only dr650 seal in western canada...

So after i realized what i did, i couldn't get the seal out without completely deforming it, since the gasket paste had worked so well. It was already worthless, so i just pried it out with a screwdriver. To hell with it.

As it turns out, people in BC are really nice. I ended up being offered a place to stay by bruce after he saw me at lordco with the bike torn apart for an hour. We loaded up the pig onto his truck and headed for home. I can't thank him enough for the hospitality and the help with the bike. He drove me down to victoria after i called every single shop on the island and found an xr650 seal.

At the dealer where we picked up the seal was this beauty:

Some day i suppose...

The xr seal was 1mm too big round the outside but had the correct inside diameter. I sanded the bore in the case and shaved off some rubber from the seal with a utility knife. We used hondabond and shoved the damn thing in there and pounded it flush. Put the retainer back on and so far it's been ok with no leaks.

Here's after a day of driving and installation:

The next day, sunday, i departed nanaimo after some delicious sushi:

I headed up to tofino in the rain, was freezing by the time i got there. Originally i was planning on camping, but they wanted 48 bucks for a basic site in the rain no less, so that was out of the question. Best western's cheapest room was 195 bucks a night, but the lady at reception was extremely helpful, letting me use their wifi and printing off a list of all the cheapest motels in the area.

There are 2 hostels in tofino, i stayed at the trek inn the first night, and the whalers on the point guesthouse the second. I recommend both. Met some interesting people and had a good time.

On monday i ended up exploring some logging roads near tofino. racked up about 160km on the potholled trail. It was some extremely good fun, especially after being broken down for so long. Here are some pictures, which i know is what you come here for:

Today i rode back to vancouver. The highway from tofino to nanaimo is really twisty, as you can see from my lack of chicken strips:

on the ferry:

As i type this, i'm at a cousin's house in port coquitlam. Going to leave early tomorrow morning. Don't know how far i'll get, but i want to head up through golden and banff and calgary before entering the prairies and returning home.

I'll update again in a few days when i have some relaxing time with fast wifi.